Page 96 of Paradigm

“No, actually,” Sarai replied.

Arlowe looked at her in confusion.

“We think you should book a flight,” Violet stated.

“What are you talking about, Vi?”

“Go to Holland. You can stay there for a few months without needing a visa, right?” Enya asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s close to the amount of time it might take us to get her visa approved, and you two can be together. Maybe it’ll get approved sooner, and then you two can come back together, but if not, you can stay for as long as you can and be with Eline.”

“In case you all forgot, I do have a job here, and there’s a pretty big time difference between here and there, even if I work from Holland.”

“We can deal with it,” Violet replied. “I know things are really busy here, but we’ve talked about hiring people in other parts of the world, right? We should get used to people working in different time zones. It would be temporary, and you don’t have to go for the entire time. You can always go there, come back, and go there again, if you want. It’s up to you, obviously. We’re just telling you that it’s okay. We’ll hold down the fort, Arlowe. Mitch and Clay will hold it down, too.”

“Gabi has offered to step in wherever you need her as well,” Sarai added. “She’s happy to help the engineering team however you need in person since you’ll be over there.”

Arlowe leaned forward, matching Violet’s posture.

“You’re serious? You can’t say this to me if you’re not serious, Vi.”

“Arlowe, you’re lucky – we all own this company. You don’t have to get someone’s approval, accrue time off, or take a leave of absence. We can take care of what needs to be done here. You might have to alter your sleep schedule, which I know hasn’t been as easy recently as it once was for you, but yes, we’re serious.”

“I could go and be with her?”

“Yes,” Violet said with a laugh.

“We’re so busy here, and we’re finally making so much progress, Vi. I’m working ten to twelve hours a day most days, sometimes longer, and we’re hanging in there, but if I’m gone even for a few weeks, that could put us so far behind. Working from there might be possible, but it would be tricky, and I–”

“Arlowe, how many days have you taken off in more than a decade that we’ve been doing this?” Sarai asked.

“None, really,” she said.

“Exactly. Add in all the weekend hours you’ve put in on top of that. I think we can even handle you taking a couple of weeks off completely when you get there, but if you want to work, we’ll figure this out,” Sarai replied.

“I’d have to ask Eline. She’s staying with her parents, and I can’t afford us a hotel or a rental for several months. I mean, I probably could, but it would be tight, with me paying rent and everything else here. I don’t know that it would be that long, but I’d have to ask her what’s okay. I don’t think her idea of starting our relationship off right involves me running into her dad every morning in the kitchen, with me wearing my boxers and her T‑shirt after coming out of her childhood bedroom. And she was so adamant about us not living together right away, too, so–”

“Call her,” Enya suggested.

“She’s on a plane, Enya. I can’t right now.”

“Well, do some thinking and planning and talk to her later when she lands,” Violet said.

“I need to get her stuff over here. I told her I’d move it and clean her apartment for the inspection. I hired someone for the cleaning part. She doesn’t need to know that.” Arlowe chuckled, feeling a little lighter now. “And it’s not like I can leave tomorrow. I should wrap up some things here before I go. We’re still doing interviews for her role. I should do as many of those in person as possible to make it more likely for her visa to get approved.”

“Just let us know what you decide, okay?” Violet said.

“Thank you all so much,” she replied and breathed, at least a momentary, sigh of relief.

CHAPTER 30

“Hey, babe,” she greeted, looking at Arlowe’s beautiful face on the small screen of her phone as she lay in her old bed for the first time in more than a decade. “I have the best news.”

“I thought I had the best news,” Arlowe replied.

“You have the best news?”